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Post by Denis-NFA on Oct 9, 2013 11:39:10 GMT 7
That where a social housing tenant has fallen into arrears with their rent payments, or is facing other tenancy related debt, that Housing NSW adopt an ‘eviction as a last resort’ policy. In such circumstances, Housing NSW should make multiple efforts to contact the tenant via mail, telephone and personal visits, in order to ascertain if the tenant is facing circumstances of financial hardship or crisis, with a view to referring the tenant to appropriate support services. Only after multiple attempts to contact the tenant have been unsuccessful should Housing NSW consider issuing a written warning that it is considering a Notice of Termination. In WA you cannot fall in arrears because a condition of getting public housing is to sign the automatic rental deduction whereby C/L make the payment direct to WA housing.
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Post by Banjo on Nov 8, 2013 8:02:34 GMT 7
Owners sued over 'cesspool' share houseResidents of a Glen Iris rooming house, which is the subject of Supreme Court action, have described it as a ''jungle'' and a ''cesspool'' that is rife with safety hazards, violence, and a culture of intimidation by abusive managers and negligent landlords. Mark Towler, who has lived at the Malvern Road address for three months following a family breakdown, pays $140 a week to sleep in a bunk bed in a room he shares with three others. While a large, empty pool in an overgrown backyard hints at the property's pristine past, its present condition is anything but. ''What I expected for that was a relatively hygienic, clean place to live, with enough security for myself and my belongings,'' Mr Towler said. ''But this is a violent, dangerous place.'' There are three toilets at the house to share between 30 male tenants. When one broke last month, Mr Towler said management boarded it up for five weeks. The Tenants Union of Victoria is representing Mr Towler in VCAT action against landlord Marie Bourke over a string of problems she has refused to fix, such as defective smoke detectors, roof leaks, strewn rubbish and an absence of any exterior lighting. In a separate court action, Consumer Affairs Victoria has issued legal proceedings against Ms Bourke and five other rooming-house landlords for failing to comply with the state's new minimum standards. The proceedings currently before the Supreme Court involve 12 rooming houses in St Kilda, Fitzroy, Glen Iris, Camberwell, Doncaster, Surrey Hills, Dandenong and Footscray. Despite repeated warnings and fines, the owners of the rooming houses are alleged to have failed to meet the minimum standards, including putting appropriate locks on doors, properly displaying evacuation plans and carrying out gas and electrical safety checks. It is alleged Ms Bourke failed to arrange for adequate electrical and gas safety checks at four rooming houses in Glen Iris, Camberwell, Doncaster East and Surrey Hills. It is not the first time Ms Bourke has attracted the attention of authorities. In 2011, Frankston Council took her and her partner, Paul Vadala, to court for breaching nuisance provisions of the Public Health and Well-being Act after neighbours complained of late-night arguments and noise coming from two rooming houses in Airlie Grove, Seaford, as well as drug-taking, drunkenness and prostitution. In March, the Victorian government introduced new minimum safety standards for rooming house operators. Since then, the consumer watchdog has carried out almost 1000 rooming house inspections and issued more than 140 infringement notices. The crackdown comes in the wake of a damning Auditor-General report in April, which found Consumer Affairs Victoria inspectors were taking one minute or less to investigate some rooming houses. The report revealed that of 24 inspections sampled for the audit no officer entered the property being inspected, seven inspections were registered as taking one minute or less to complete and residents were spoken to in only five inspections. Consumer Affairs Victoria says it is unaware of any other concerns or possible breaches at the Glen Iris rooming house operated by Ms Bourke. A final determination of the matters relating to Ms Bourke and her co-defendants will be made on a date to be fixed. Read more: www.theage.com.au/victoria/owners-sued-over-cesspool-share-house-20131107-2x3td.html#ixzz2k0mPLccb
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Post by Banjo on Nov 10, 2013 7:02:17 GMT 7
Alarming jump in eviction ratesRenters priced out of inner Melbourne and pushed to the cheaper urban fringe are losing their homes at an alarming rate as Centrelink cuts and outer suburban isolation plunge thousands into debt. Eviction rates in Melbourne's outer-ring areas have soared by up to 60 per cent, well ahead of the Melbourne average, which has also shown a marked increase. Police are executing eviction warrants on an average of seven rental homes a day across Melbourne, a 15 per cent increase since the 2011 financial year. Social workers say the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal figures released to Fairfax Media highlight the fallout from the city's affordable-housing crisis, and the effect of being isolated from jobs, services and public transport in outer suburbs. Read more: www.theage.com.au/victoria/alarming-jump-in-eviction-rates-20131109-2x8qd.html#ixzz2kCEIC3Uk
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Post by Banjo on Apr 21, 2016 13:03:23 GMT 7
Cost of living in Australia: Pensioners, people on the dole and minimum wage have little chance of affording rental housingAGE pensioners would need to bunk in with students they find on Gumtree to be able to afford even two per cent of rentals on the market, a shocking assessment of housing affordability has found. Anglicare’s Australia’s Rental Affordability Snapshot shows the nearly impossible task of securing housing for those on the age pension, the dole, disability or family payments or earning the minimum wage. The organisation plans to use the findings to lobby the Federal Government and Opposition during an extended election campaign to recalibrate negative gearing and capital gains rules, increase housing stock and the supply of social housing and up welfare payments. The snapshot of 74,400 rentals available across the first weekend of April nationally gives exact numbers on which groups can afford the properties without experiencing severe financial hardship. Most dire is the 18+ group on Youth Allowance who can only afford one. For singles living on the age pension, only 1585 homes out of 75,410 assessed were affordable, and only because Gumtree searches were included. “Given that share accommodation is typically targeted at younger populations, the likelihood that age pensioners would find that this accommodation meets their needs, or that they would be able to secure this type of rental property is slim,” the report said. Couples with two children earning the minimum wage and getting Family Tax Benefit A payments could afford about a quarter of properties, but a single with the same children on one wage could only afford five per cent. Many of the groups fared better in Rockhampton, Gladstone and Emerald than the national average, while Cairns residents fared worse. But in Brisbane, there were so few appropriate properties the percentage was recorded as zero per cent in all categories but three. Anglicare Australia Executive Director Kasy Chambers said the extreme stress some were in. “What is different about this year’s report is the context,” she said. “We have the opportunity to put housing affordability front and centre of the upcoming election debate. “We call on all political players to present a clear plan to address the cost of housing in this country.” www.couriermail.com.au/news/cost-of-living-in-australia-pensioners-people-on-the-dole-and-minimum-wage-have-little-chance-of-affording-rental-housing/news-story/b3e11394efd61ec3e093747118e43edb
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Post by brent62 on Feb 4, 2017 6:51:29 GMT 7
I thank my lucky stars, and don't take it for granted, that I have a quaint housing trust duplex home. I'm reminded how lucky I am everyday. When is there going to be a rise in the payments on welfare as its been stagnant for too long while everything else rises? Talk about creating a divide! If something does not change soon we will be a third world country camouflage by the middle to high income class.
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Post by Banjo on Feb 4, 2017 7:05:52 GMT 7
Soon?
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Post by murphy on Feb 4, 2017 7:49:24 GMT 7
Manifestations of this article have been published each year for several years now. The hate-welfare-recipients campaign is so strong that these housing statistics don't produce much practical response. Negative gearing continues. Affordable housing dwindles, apparently to zero in some areas.
What a shame the government doesn't do the sums on how much more cost-effective it is to allow DSPers to leave Australia. It seems win-win.
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Post by itsmylife08 on Feb 4, 2017 10:35:48 GMT 7
Manifestations of this article have been published each year for several years now. The hate-welfare-recipients campaign is so strong that these housing statistics don't produce much practical response. Negative gearing continues. Affordable housing dwindles, apparently to zero in some areas. What a shame the government doesn't do the sums on how much more cost-effective it is to allow DSPers to leave Australia. It seems win-win. I hear what you say Murphy , it's a very valid point you make . I've been on UP and living in the Pines for almost for 2 years my family and I have a better standard of living than we would ever have in Australia .This makes me very sad at times as I always regarded Australia as home. Share your Idea with some politicians who will be sympathetic to your cause . Best wishes Itsa
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Post by nomadic on Feb 4, 2017 16:28:23 GMT 7
My view on it is that they know it saves money but if the general public knew how good it is in third world countries with only the pension they would be disgusted we are allowed to enjoy life on "their" money. Thus no votes in it. We have read articles on the topic that were total lies. The headlines said. Disabled living overseas cost tax payers $100 million. It made people think that it cost them this money because we were overseas and if we were in oz it wouldn't. In actual fact it would have cost them more as we all know in housing, medical etc etc. I have heard radio talk back slamming us as they brain wash the public. Sadly it's the way of the capitalist system. I'm very lucky to have UP also itsa but it should be far easier to get for others also. And the topic of only 4 weeks seems to have disappeared also which is even more of a sad story for others on DSP.
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Post by itsmylife08 on Feb 4, 2017 19:21:30 GMT 7
My view on it is that they know it saves money but if the general public knew how good it is in third world countries with only the pension they would be disgusted we are allowed to enjoy life on "their" money. Thus no votes in it. We have read articles on the topic that were total lies. The headlines said. Disabled living overseas cost tax payers $100 million. It made people think that it cost them this money because we were overseas and if we were in oz it wouldn't. In actual fact it would have cost them more as we all know in housing, medical etc etc. I have heard radio talk back slamming us as they brain wash the public. Sadly it's the way of the capitalist system. I'm very lucky to have UP also itsa but it should be far easier to get for others also. And the topic of only 4 weeks seems to have disappeared also which is even more of a sad story for others on DSP. Fair enough Nomadic that is the downside of things , its true the media brainwash the public if you let them . I used to live in a boarding house in Brisbane , and a fair portion of the residents used to bash us also spouting the same rhetoric as the right wing media and politicians . Their tax's etc , I always thought it was consolidated revenue that paid for our pensions
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Post by krystal on Feb 6, 2017 16:10:57 GMT 7
Your quite correct, it does now. Wasn't the way it was supposed to be.
The way it was set up was every worker paid 7% of the salary (on top of income tax) into the National Welfare Fund.
National Welfare Fund Act 1943 Section 6. Moneys standing to the credit of the National Welfare Fund shall be applied in making such payments as are directed by any law of the Commonwealth to be made from the Fund, in relation to health services, unemployment or sickness benefits, invalid and age pensions, widows' pensions, family allowances, or other welfare or social services.
Of course this was repealed in 1985 so the government could move the monies into general revenue (consolidated) and use it any way they wished (but workers didn't get to stop paying the 7% levy).
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Post by murphy on Feb 6, 2017 16:18:58 GMT 7
Hawkie?
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Post by krystal on Feb 8, 2017 13:31:29 GMT 7
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